Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Well, it turns out that all of the noise about this appears to have been Matt Drudge's dreamland scenario. But, as you know now, Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan.

++++++++++++++Published earlier+++++++++++++

Has Romney pulled a red dawn on us?

Is the man who insisted on changing the name of the Iraqi deployment to "Operation New Dawn" going to be running for a spot in line for the presidency? Is the current head of the CIA about ready to be the vice presidential candidate under Romney? Do you feel like you are in a psy-ops movie? Well, hold on to your hat.

The soldier behind coming up with the name "New Dawn" during the ending phases of the Iraqi War may be helping to move the entire landscape of Campaign 2012 in a new direction.

Do you know that Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to General David Petraeus' request to change "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn," a couple years ago? The change went into effect on September 1, 2010.

There was also a more focussed "Operation Red Dawn" earlier. Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, commanded by Major. Gen Raymond Odierno and led by Col. James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division, with joint operations Task Force 121 - an elite and covert joint special operations team. Who do you think came up with that name?

The military operation searched two sites, "Wolverine 1" and "Wolverine 2," outside the town of ad-Dawr, but did not find Saddam Hussein. A continued search between the two sites discovered him in a "spider hole" hide out at 20:30 hrs local Iraqi time. Despite being armed with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle, and provisioned with US$750,000 in cash, Saddam did not resist capture.

It has been a strange month already, now this. The news has been filled with an alleged former university neuroscience student shooting 70 people in a movie audience in Colorado's Aurora (red dawn) on July 20th. One fourth of the 12 killed in Aurora are said to have been linked to the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet at Buckley Air Force. According to their Navy site (which they admit is "subject to monitoring"), the "mission of Fleet Cyber Command is to serve as central operational authority for networks, cryptologic/signals intelligence, information operations, cyber, electronic warfare, and space capabilities."

Now, the newsbreaks today that former Governor Willard Mitt Romney may be interested in "New Dawn" General David Howell Petraeus to be his running mate. Who could have seen this new dawn (or is it a storm) coming?

What does Petraeus mean?

Petraeus has its origins in Petreus, which means Πετρεύς (ancient Greek)> πέτρα (both modern and ancient Greek) = stone, rock.

In Greece, the name Petreus in no longer in use, but what is still employed is Petros (which would mean stone if the word petra had a male equivelent, since it is a female word).

To the English-speaking ear, what is most familiar is to think of the origins of the first name Peter.

Peter was derived from the Greek Πετρος (Petros) meaning stone. This is a translation used in most versions of the New Testament of the name Cephas, meaning stone in Aramaic, which was given to the apostle Simon by Jesus.

Compare Matthew 16:18 and John 1:42.

Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church."

John 1:42: "And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas' (which, when translated, is Peter)."

Simon Peter was the most prominent of the apostles during Jesus' ministry and is often considered the first pope.

Briefly, who is David Petraeus:

General David Howell Petraeus (born November 7, 1952) is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010 to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.

Petraeus has a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% of his class). He was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College class of 1983. He subsequently earned an M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in International Relations in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy and also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.

Some news reports have speculated that Petraeus may have interest in running for the presidency, especially after he visited a school known for hosting the presidential debates, New Hampshire's Saint Anselm College. Petraeus lives in New Hampshire. Despite these accounts, Petraeus has categorically asserted that he has no political ambitions.

On June 23, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Petraeus to succeed General Stanley McChrystal as commanding general of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, technically a step down from his position as Commander of United States Central Command, which oversees the military efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt.

On June 30, 2011, Petraeus was unanimously confirmed as the next Director of the CIA by the US Senate 94-0. Petraeus relinquished command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan on July 18, and retired from the U.S. Army on August 31.